PERSONAL.
INFORMATION WANTED.
Information wanted as to Whereabouts of JAMES TRAVIS, who left the American barque Maria at Bay of Islands, New Zealand, under the name of JAMES WILSON, between 1852 and 1856. —Address Ira. U. Travis, Madison ave, Flushing, New York, U.S.A.; or E. Y. Thorn, No. 61 Yokohama, Japan. -Otago Daily Times, 8/2/1905.
Late Telegrams
Through the reprinting of a paragraph m a local evening newspaper from an American journal, an old colonist named James Alexander Wilson, now residing in Dunedin but whose real name is James Travis, got information of a legacy of 90,000 dollars, estimated to be worth now £35,000 or £40,000. -Ashburton Guardian, 18/4/1905.
Forty thousand pounds in 1905 is worth, at time of writing, a shade over eight million dollars.
A DUNEDIN MAN IN LUCK.
INHERITOR OF A NICE PLUMP FORTUNE.
BEQUEATHED BY AN AMERICAN.
It must be getting on for a year ago that Mr James Wilson, of South Dunedin, heard the news that stirred him to immediate activity. One of his grandchildren ran around to the old gentleman’s house in William street — a thoroughfare that lies parallel to and at the back of Cargill road — to show him an advertisement in the ‘Otago Daily Times.' This advertisement sought information as to the whereabouts of James Travis, who deserted from the barque Maria at the Bay of Islands in 1855, James Travis being wanted as one of the heirs of Captain Jacob Travis, late of New York.
Why, it may he asked, should James Wilson be interested in, such an inquiry about James Travis?
The answer is easy and satisfying, for Mr Wilson had a claim to both names. He knew that his father was Jacob Travis, and that five years after Jacob Travis’s death his mother married Alexander Wilson. It was in that way that he knew himself both as Travis and as Wilson, and as a matter of fact letter's addressed to either name were delivered to him through the post, for, though usually known as Wilson, it was no secret that he could lawfully style himself Travis if be so wished. The large family — seven sons and four daughters — were aware of the fact, and hence the bringing of the advertisement to grandfather’s notice.
The news did not in any way startle the recipient. He knew that the Travises were a wealthy lot, though he had no particulars, and, without in the least building upon the hope, he always had an idea that some of them might leave him a bit. In a sense he was thus not surprised at the inquiry, and, feeling sure that he was the man who was being searched for, he at once prepared to establish his identity and prove his claim.
Ten months ago it was when he, started off from Dunedin by a Union boat for Auckland, accompanied by Mrs Wilson, one daughter (Mrs Ruston), and one son (the Rev. R. Wilson). The party journeyed by the Moura to Suva, and thence by the Aorangi to Vancouver. On the Aorangi they had as a fellow-passenger their old friend Captain Nevill, who was going Horne to bring out the Maheno. Reaching Vancouver all right, the family party travelled by train to New York, being much interested in the country scenes on the way, and arrived at New York on the thirty-fifth day after leaving South Dunedin. At New York, they put up in one of the enormous hotels to await a message from Mr Wilson’s brother, Ira U. Travis. The telegram came soon, and shortly afterwards Ira U. Travis himself appeared. He is three years younger than his New Zealand brother, and lives in a splendid house at Long Island, enjoying his legacy from old Jacob Travis, and being happy in the position of commander of the Long Island veteran corps.
To make the story complete it has to be added that the bequests by Jacob Travis included three to this branch of the family. One went to Ira U. Travis and another to a sister. They both took their legacies some time ago. The third was for their long-lost brother when he could be found.
When Ira heard that James was coming he hastened to meet him, and they shook hands at New York. The particulars of their interview need not be stated here. Suffice it to mention that the visitor from New Zealand clearly proved himself to be identical with the James Wilson who ran away to sea when a boy, and the claimant was at once accepted as genuine, not only by Ira U., Travis, but by a nephew who also interested himself in this preliminary investigation.
There were four original executors of Captain Jacob Travis’s will. The will was probated in 1884, and then, after the usual legal tangle, these executors began, in 1900, to search for the person who was decreed to be the heir. Advertisements were inserted in papers pretty well all over the globe, and in response came a host of Travises and Wilsons — frauds, every man Jack of them — but requiring some shaking off. At last the Otago paper brought the real man to light, and, as mentioned, he promptly satisfied the family. His proofs were conclusive to them. So they were to the sole surviving executor. Three of the four executors had died since the time the inquiries were originally set afoot. The fourth, Mr Wilson M. Powell, a lawyer of repute, who had managed the estate and kept a good grip of it, also accepted the Dunedin claimant as genuine, and, indeed, consented to advise him professionally as to how to carry his case to the Supreme Count.
Representatives of' other parties, to whom the estate would go in the event of Mr Wilson not being pronounced the heir, were, of course, slow of conviction. They stipulated for chapter and verse for everything. And they got it. When Mr Wilson started to assert himself he found thirty-two lawyers nibbling at the cheese on behalf of prospective beneficiaries. But thirty of these legal gentlemen withdrew from the case as soon an they had examined the New Zealander. The other two hung out and fought him, but after litigation that lasted four weeks and came to a climax in one day’s trial before the Court — a day to be remembered on account of the intense heat wave that passed over America — the Judge pronounced James Travis (or James Wilson) to be the lawful inheritor, and he suddenly found himself the possessor of three legacies — two in golden cash, the other in property. The money he at once took; the property he proposes to go back and manage as soon as he can square up things in New Zealand.
Part of the windfall was spent in a trip to England; the party saw the sights of London; they came out by the Ruapehu, and are once more quartered in South Dunedin, where one of our reporters had a chat with Mr Wilson this morning.
The story that Mr Wilson has to tell includes some account of old Jacob Travis, gleaned, of course, at second hand. It seems that Jacob Travis started life as a sailor, became a master, then set up as a shipowner, grew rich, and amused himself after his wife’s death by entertaining sailors in a comfortable sort of rest at Brooklyn. The old chap died in 1884, aged eightythree years. He left a fortune estimated at a million dollars. This was left to his daughter, Josephine Louisa Travis, for her own use during her life, then to be divided amongst thirteen younger members of the family. This is one of Mr Wilson’s legacies. Another of the legacies that he now possesses comes to Mr Wilson as the heir of this Josephine Louisa Travis, who did not marry. The exact total was not disclosed, but it means a tidy sum.
Mr Wilson also mentioned this fact: His own father was a Captain Jacob Travis. So there were two Captain Jacob Travises — the one who left the money, and Mr Wilson’s father — and they were cousins. Mr Wilson’s father was a wealthy men, and in his will he decreed that if his wife married a second time his money was to go to the other Captain Jacob Travis. She did marry a second time, and thus, in part at any rate, it is Mr Wilson's father’s money that Mr Wilson has now come in for.
As to Mr Wilson's history, not much need be said here. He was coopers mate on the barque Maria; he was three months short of eighteen years old when he ran away from the vessel at the Bay of Islands; he followed the sea for awhile afterwards; he settled in Auckland in 1859, and married into the family of Mr Macreedy, the well-known watchmaker; he then became shipowner, and used to sail his own vessels; and he came to Dunedin in 1853, where he has resided ever since. For some time he carried on a house agency near the railway line at Kensington. -Evening Star, 12/3/1906.
Golden Wedding.
TRAVIS — NELMES. — On October 9th 1859, at St. Paul’s Church, Auckland, by the Rev. John Frederick Lloyd, James Travis (known as Wilson), eldest son of Captain Jacob Travis, Long Island, New York, U.S.A., to Hannah Nelmes, youngest daughter Josiah Nelmes, gentleman, Buckinghamshire England. Present address: Prendergast (late William) street, Dunedin South. -Evening Star, 25/10/1909.
James and Hannah continued to live in their south Dunedin home. James died in 1912, Hannah in 1918. Their gravestone is extraordinary.
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